Astal: The Novel
by Illcitvirus115
Summary: (Based on the obscure Sega Saturn game of the same name) Banished to the moon for a crime he did not mean to commit, Astal breaks free of his satellite prison to free Leda, the only girl he has ever loved, and wage an epic fight against Geist, his rival, and the dark god Jerado, who seeks to rule the world as his own. Followed by a strange bird, Astal fights for justice on Eden!
1. Old Age of Wonders

In the dark and mysterious corners of our galaxy, life and light existed. Not life and light as we have known it today. Life on a planet that was created by a single jewel from the fair goddess Antowas. She was blonde, wore a great robe, and had leaves fashioned into a collar that nearly resembled laurels. T'was the legend of the beginning of the Planet Quartilia. From precious gemstones of her design, she blessed the land with the earth and sky, water, the mountains and the trees, the ice, wind, stone and fire. All she had given to that world was in a nigh-flawless balance. Plants grew to blossom, animals came to wander about, reaping the bounty of nature. And from the last two jewels of her collection, to add to this balance, created two human children blessed with the power of strength and creation. From the ruby, emerged a boy with long red hair, named Astal. And from the emerald, came a girl with hair buds like flowers and long brown hair, named Leda. Exhausted by her work, Antowas was soon to sleep, but the powerful goddess stayed awake as long as she could to see how well she had worked.

On the plains of Quartilia, Astal and Leda were born from the ruby and the emerald next to a mighty tree that blossomed with plums, and a particular hangout for birds of scarlet and blue hue. Not long after their creation, Astal and Leda awoke to see the world that Antowas had brought to fruition, and saw one another as the goddess made them, with neither fear or shame. They wore naught but the jewelry they were bestowed with upon birth. For Astal, a pair of rubies on his hands, appearing as if fisticuffs, and Leda, golden rings around her hands, three emeralds braiding her hair together, and a green jewel necklace. With each passing hour, Astal and Leda had come to learn more about themselves and the world around them. At least, Leda was willing to learn. All that Astal did for most of his day was lift things, exercise and lay on the tree branch next to Leda, as she interacted with the birds that came, trying to guess their names and species, and feed them with grounded up plums, both nourishing the fruit of the tree they would come to call home. The power of speech came to them shortly after.

"Leda?" Asked Astal. "Don't you think you should join me on this branch, where it's safe? I don't want any harm to come to you." Leda looked up to her protector and giggled. "Don't be silly, Astal. Nobody's going to hurt me. Not so long as you're around." "I know." He replied. "That's why I want you closer, so nobody can harm you." "Astal? Don't you ever wonder if there's more to life for you than hanging around on that tree branch, like a mother eagle watching over it's nest, and preparing for a battle that may or may not come?" "I don't think so, Leda." I'm a guy of simple pleasures, whose only love is you and the goddess Antowas and all she has given us, strengthening myself with everything I lift with my hands, and-"

A trio of birds came to eat from Leda's plum, and Astal, fearing for her safety leapt down from his post. "Hey, that's her plum! Shoo! Shoo!" The birds fluttered in a panic and flew away from the tree, Leda in her innocence and gentleness placed her arms against her friend's back. "Astal, what was that for? I was just feeding them." "They were trying to take your plum away." "And for that you frighten a few defenseless birds?" Leda sighs as she moves from the tree, a bouquet's worth of flowers blossoming in her wake. Astal follows her, unknowingly crushing the flowers she created.

The luxurious hills of the forest accentuate the smooth frames of the young super-humans, who sit on their grassy edges side by side, looking out into the valley. "Leda?" Began Astal. "Yes?" She replied. "If I'm not around, and somebody comes to hurt you or take you away, what are you going to do?" "What harm would come to me in this paradise we call Quartilia? And what beings would take me to someplace that I don't recognize to hurt me? You've got to trust somebody sometime. The animals here are kind and gentle, and never look like they would hurt anyone. When you see them, or when humans finally settle down here, try a little compassion, my friend. Please Astal..."

Just then, a herd of deer came running along the field, their hooves thundering across the landscape like an avalanche. Astal, once more in silent fear and confusion, he stood up. "Leda, they're coming right for us!" Astal dug into the ground and hoisted forth a bolder of impressive size, one he believed would be strong enough to crush the creatures he deemed dangerous. The deer, frightened by the furless red-haired boy lifting a rock ten times his own weight, ran off to the left of him, kicking dust and cut grass into Astal and Leda, causing Astal to drop his bolder on his foot. "OW! Crazy beasts... Ow ow ow ow..." "Astal, please stop. You're scaring everyone!" Leda pushed the bolder away and tended to his foot. Leda was saddened and ashamed by Astal's lack of restraint and paranoia, but she loved him still. "They could've ran us over if I hadn't gotten that rock!" Said Astal. "It's only natural for them to run in a herd like this..." Reassured Leda.

"You got us both dirty, we should take a dip in the lake." Leda soon guided Astal to a large lake, several trees resting near the shore of the lake. Several other animals gathered there to get a drink, or swim. Astal had his suspicions about each of these creatures appearing, but remained silent for fear of upsetting Leda. "Are you sure we'll be safe in this lake?" He asked. "Of course it's safe, silly." Said Leda. "Nothing in that lake but fish, turtles and a bunch of thirsty animals drinking near it." After Leda takes off her jewelry and emerald hairbraid, she then gets a running start and jumps into the lake with the force of a cannonball. Astal is concerned she is sinking when she is submerged for a few seconds, she then surfaces spitting water and splashing about. "Come on in, Astal! The water's fine!" "Uh- Uh... Okay..." Astal gulped as he removed the rubies from the palms of his hands.

Astal had never entered deep bodies of water before, let alone took baths that had water levels up to his neck. Among one of Astal's many fears was shocking/disappointing or otherwise upsetting Leda, losing her to a danger, and water. He did not know how to swim, and stubbornly refused lessons offered by Leda to prove his courage. Aftewards, whenever Astal encountered deep bodies of water, Leda always catches a glimpse of Astal's fright. But to be afraid is to be human, and Leda still loved him. Astal made his decision to conquer this fear and begins by dipping his foot into the shallow water.

"So far so good..." He whispers. He slowly but surely wades deeper and deeper into the water, and Leda swims closer to him. "Good job, my friend..." Leda whispers. Astal is nearly towards her friend when a large turtle surfaces and looks Astal in his ruby red eyes. Astal's eyes bolt to the left to see a frog croaking on a lily pad, and as he backed away from the turtle, not looking where he is going and sinking more, his mind begins playing tricks on him. He panics, flounders about in the water, and struggles to hold his breath as he sinks into the lake and sees a school of fish that spot him and his desperation to breath and reach dry land. Leda dives down and takes him to the surface and to the shoreline where they left behind their possessions. Astal lays down on the grass, coughing out water and panting. "Thank you, Leda..."

"Anything for you, Astal." Said Leda as she put her jewelry back on. "We gotta stop taking baths in deep beds of water. There could be sharks in there, or something." Said Astal as he put his rubies back on. "Sharks only live in the ocean, silly. If they swam anywhere else, there'd be no fish left." Replied Leda. "There's still so much about the world and life you have yet to learn about Astal." The two then returned to the plum tree from which their creation occured, and fell into a satisfied sleep after a busy day, but not before witnessing a beautiful sunset, and watching a few stars shine.

In the heavens above, on Quartilia's tallest mountain, rests the grand Palace of Antowas, who observes the events that take place across the planet by means of a crystal ball. She can see the animals that inhabit the planet, and she can even see Astal and Leda's daily lives. Content with her work, Antowas went into her majestic bedroom and began to sleep, blissfully unaware of the danger, sadness, pain and horror that was yet to come to her world. In the darkest corners of Quartilia, in a paradoxical opposite of Antowas' mountain home, in the largest desert, in a place that would come to be known as The Plains of Destiny, an evil god calling himself Jerado emerged from the void with a vile purpose in mind.

That purpose was to steal Quartilia, enslave it's inhabitants, and terraform the planet to suit his wicked tastes. He created an army of demons of all shapes and sizes to accomplish his twisted dream, but he was well aware that he was not as strong as Antowas, and that Astal and Leda would resist him with their super-human powers. After discussing with his most trusted demon generals, and devising a much more wicked and cunning plan, Jerado soon created his own super-human from a sapphire; Geist. Geist was made as a blonde and blue-eyed warrior that openly worships Jerado and his purpose was to bring pain monopoly, ritual misery and destruction to the inhabitants of Quartilia, should they oppose him.

 _"GO FORTH, MY FIENDS, AND KILL! GO FORTH, GEIST. MY BEAUTIFUL, PERFECT SON. GO FORTH AND BRING PAIN TO ALL WHO WOULD OPPOSE MY WILL... YES, EVEN THE INSUFFERABLE SERVANTS OF ANTOWAS. INCLUDING SHE WHO HAS BEEN BLESSED WITH THE POWER OF CREATION... YES, THE LOVELY ONE THAT CALLS HERSELF LEDA... CRUSH HER, MY SON. CRUSH ALL WHO WOULD REFUSE TO BOW TO THE MIGHT OF JERADO! MUH HA HA HA HA HA HAHAHAHA!..."_


	2. The Path To Ruin

By the time that Antowas fell asleep in her heavenly palace, there were many things she did not see coming on Quartilia. The evolution of the environment, the rise of human civilization to which she has helped to foster, the growing relationship between Astal and Leda, her first humans that she blessed with her power, and the ascent of the dark god Jerado, and of the human warrior he considered a son, Geist. Mankind began as little more than cave dwellers and hunters by the time Jerado made his move and mobilized his armies. Though the time would come when they would expand beyond their caves, develop housing and raise crops, man would debate the wisdom of remaining in those caves when the fiends came.

While Jerado constructs a palace out of crystal in the Glacial Rift adjacent to The Forbidden Mountains of The Far North, Geist had looked far and wide for Leda, but then found her crouching by a plum tree and a red-haired boy sleeping on a branch. Geist sneaks around in the bushes, but stands still when Leda turns around, and barely sees him. She then proceeds to the lake to create Plankton for the fish to eat, Geist comes out of the bush to grab her but steps on a twig which makes a loud crunching sound. Leda sighs and stands up. "Astal, if I've told you once, I've told you a million times, I don't know what a restroom is, so we have to do our business near the trees. Besides, it helps them grow if you drink enough water and-"

Leda then sees him. Geist blushes and takes a quick moment to admire his soon-to-be kidnapping victim. "Why hello there..." He begins. "Call me Geist. You must be Leda." Geist then took her left hand and kissed it. "How do you know who my-" "I've heard so much about you and the work you do, so I decided to stop by and uh... Take you over to a friend's house." Leda was shy and confused, because the only other boy she knew of was Astal. "A friend's house?" "Yup." "That's strange. The Tablets sent down by Antowas said that humanity wasn't supposed to evolve and develop housing until the next three months..."

"Those Heavenly Tablets are known to be late sometimes." Geist lied through his teeth, as he started hovering several feet off the ground. "Whoa, you can fly?" Asked Leda. "Uh-huh. I'm one of the new models, you might say." "I don't know what that means, but I think I like it." "Well, let's get going." "Going where?" "You'll see..." Smirked Geist as he guided Leda to Jerado's hideout in the North Reaches. Although she didn't realize it, Leda had been cleverly kidnapped by Geist and was none-too-subtle about it, and Astal was fast asleep on the plum tree, dreaming of a greater day between him and Leda.

His dreaming would come to a crashing halt as he yawns and scratches the branch and his bare bottom, and lazily opens his eyes and falls to the ground flat on his face. But being blessed stronger than a stone, he shook it off and stands by the tree to relieve yesterday's dinner, and he realizes Leda is missing. "Leda? Where are you?" He soon searches the bush. "Leda, are you playing hide and seek again? This isn't funny, Leda... Leda?!" His confusion turns to desperation and desperation turns into anger as he begins tearing up plants, tossing boulders, searching caves and knocking over trees as he comes to the conclusion that Leda has been kidnapped and shouts out his anger and sadness. "LEEEDAAAAAA!..."

By the time Astal had verbally and physically expressed his despair, Geist and Leda were long gone, their trail, cold. From the murkiest depths of the Southern Swamps to the sandstorms of the East Desert, and inevitably to the North Reaches, where Jerado was waiting, Leda followed the path that Geist had laid out, blissfully unaware of where she was going. As Astal made attempt to follow Leda and her captor, she paradoxically appeared to recede further into the unknown. As Leda unknowingly made her way to the palace, she had to wade through the snowy plains that reflected the Forbidden Mountains of The Far North, cold and marching to the unknown with Geist giving her directions from the rear, rarely stopping for food, water or rest. "Geist, I'm getting cold... Can't we stop to make camp? I don't see your friend's place, and I'm freezing."

Geist sighed as he levitated behind her, he was clearly losing his patience with Leda having to make pit stops in their lengthy travels, and was aware the dark one would punish him for falling behind schedule any further. "Just a little further, Leda, and we'll soon be at my friend's house, and have a wonderful time." "You know what I would think would be a good time? Helping the forest, feed the birds, pray to Antowas, take a swim, making flowers... The kind of stuff Astal and I would do." "Whoever he is, he's missing out." "Brrr... I wonder what Astal will think- ! He might be worried! I need to find him." As she turns around, Geist has produced a fireball from his hand, aiming straight at Leda. "He'll catch up, we need to make good time to Jerado's palace before the blizzard comes." "What is that, and who's Jerado? Is he this friend you keep talking about?" "That's how I make fire, and yes. Now let's get going!" "Okay..." Leda said, still shivering, even with the orb of flames behind her barely warming her, she was concerned about Astal's reaction, worried he might break something, or hurt someone.

Several miles away from the North Reaches, Leda's worries had become reality, with Astal smashing down trees, making cracks in the ground, and frightening the early humans with his destructive fury, and before he knew it, he had come face to face with Jerado's demon army. He saw all manner of creatures, goblins, orcs and big insects, armored in magenta, topaz, citrine, diamond and all manner of gems. Astal believed if he fought these strange beings, he would find the person that captured Leda. He punched through them, coming to the realization of their frailty when injured, they retreat into the gemstones from whence they came and shattered upon contact with a rough surface. He pushed, shoved, kicked, punched and overhead-slammed his mysterious assailants, and when one of them landed a hook to his mouth, he breathed in involuntarily, and blew away several foes in a strong gust of wind.

Discovering this and his many other powers that he had not previously known, he soon found himself fighting wave after wave of Jerado's fiends, with the hopes that he would inevitably find Leda at these creatures' place of gathering. His victories were great ones, but at great cost to the world around him. It didn't matter, he thought, so long as Leda was safe and free again to create a peaceful world. The ruin and agony he left behind would be felt by the cave dwellers that had wandered from their stone sanctuaries and bared frightened witness to his unbound fury. The humans would not forget Astal anytime soon, and would carve him into a symbol of fear and penance for sin in their legends and folklore in the foreseeable future. After witnessing him in battle, the humans would often pray to Antowas to return to the mortal world and give _The Crimson Bane_ his just deserts.

As Astal finally arrived at the Northern Reaches, fighting his way through another horde of crystal demons, Geist and Leda had arrived at Jerado's palace, the dimly lit halls frightening the demi-goddess as Geist took her to Jerado's shadowy chambers, his fireball lighting the way. "Geist... What is this place? I'm scared..." "Just a little place I like to call home..." Replied the warrior. As Leda went into the pitch blackness of Jerado's court, she felt more chills coming from the corridors than out in the snow. Geist went up to what appeared to be a torch and lit it with his fireball and kneeling before it, as the flame illuminated a massive throne. "I have returned, great one." Suddenly, torches across the dark courtroom are lit by blue flames, and a mist appears around the throne, and then Jerado appears from out of the smoke, grinning his wicked grin, and staring straight at the frightened Leda.

" _GREETINGS, LITTLE GIRL._ " He said with a dark, booming voice. "Uh... Hi." Leda said timidly, scared stiff at his monstrous appearance. She was now convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt she's been kidnapped. " _DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM, SURROGATE DAUGHTER OF ANTOWAS?_ " "I can't say that I do... Why am I here?" " _THERE IS A SERVICE I REQUIRE OF YOU. YOU SEE, I AM NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO CREATE MY OWN WORLD, WHAT I WOULD HAVE YOU DO IS RESHAPE QUARTILIA INTO MY WORLD, MY IMAGE, MY WILL._ " Leda thought long and hard into the implications of Jerado's task. "Would that mean destroying the animals, plants and humans?" " _THE LIVING BEINGS OF THIS WORLD WOULD LIVE IN A PARADISE OF MY MAKING._ " "As slaves." She replied. "Forget it, I won't hurt this planet or anyone on it!" Jerado was visibly frustrated, he stood from his throne, looking down on Leda, scoffing, then staring at Geist. " _IF SHE WILL NOT CHANGE THIS WORLD AS I SEE PLEASING, THEN SHE IS OF NO USE TO ME. SHE CAN FROST. CAST HER OUT IN THE BLIZZARD!_ "

As Geist was about to go through with Jerado's command, the door broke down and Astal charged in, smashing anything in his path. He then saw Leda in the grip of Jerado and Geist. "Astal!" Leda cried out. "Am I glad to see you!" "Wish I could say the same." Said Astal as he angrily glared at Geist. " _SO THIS IS ASTAL, THE LITTLE HUMAN ANTOWAS MADE TO DEFEND LEDA._ " Geist laughed menacingly. "He doesn't look so tough to me." He levitates close to him, readying another fireball. "This'll be easier than crushing an ant." The two charged at one another, exchanging a series of punches and kicks to one another, with Astal dodging Geist's fireballs and Geist avoiding Astal's overhead slams, with Leda looking on in hope of Astal winning. While she was occupied with the battle, she felt something grab at her!

In an instant, Leda was encased in crystal by an indescribable creature of Jerado's design calling itself Frostbite. "I'VE GOT YOU NOW. I'VE GOT YOU NOW!" "Astal, help me!" Astal turned his attention towards the purple creature and saw Leda trapped in crystal and attempted to free her, but Frostbite disappeared, as well as Jerado, and Geist took the captured Leda and sped off, but not before Astal grabbed him by the bum, causing Astal and Geist as well as Leda to blush before Astal was thrown to the ground by Geist. He then flew far away from the soon-to-be destroyed palace, with Jerado observing the carnage from The Underworld. Astal focused his thoughts into following Geist in the air, and soon, after a burst of red energy, he was soon flying like a bird, managing to catch up with Geist.

No sooner did he realize he was flying right over the ocean, with Geist stopping right over the water, with Leda in his hand. "Alright Astal, now would be a reasonable time to surrender! Any dumb moves, and li'l Leda sleeps with the fishes!" "Astal!" Leda cried out. "Get me out of this rock!" "Don't worry, Leda! I'll think of something..." Astal moved up slightly to slug Geist in the face, but he teleports upward and throws Leda into the ocean. "Leda!" Without a second thought, Astal dives down to reach Leda not bothering to hold his breath. Geist teleported into the water, and summoned several stones and hurled them at Astal, robbing him most of his air. He saw Leda reach the bottom of the ocean floor and sank next to her and tried to smash open the crystal she was sealed in, barely making a dent. "Astal, it's no use, don't waste your air!" Said Leda, as the air in her amethyst prison getting more stale. Astal was soon surrounded by hideous-looking fish that appeared to be Jerado's minions. They shot out beams of deadly energy at Astal, but could barely avoid them, as he did not know how to swim, and the water limited his movements. With the revelation that he may not leave alive, Astal cracked the ocean floor.

With the last of his air, he shattered the seabed causing a massive whirlpool that began sucking in Jerado's aquatic minions, with Geist nowhere to be found. The slam was strong enough to crack the crystal in which Leda was trapped. She held her breath and broke free of the stone prison, shocked at the sight of a drowning Astal, he could not control his inhaling of seawater. Leda took Astal into her arms and made her way to the surface, swimming as fast as she could. A few minutes later, they finally arrived on dry land. "This time... I saved you, my friend..." Leda then revived Astal, spitting out water and coughing, had quickly returned to form, standing up and facing Leda. At last she was safe, but the ocean was ruined. The battle that resulted in the ocean crust being damaged had consequently broken the planet, upsetting the balance of nature and the elements, awakening Antowas, who appeared before them in a column of brilliant light. Antowas lowered her hands, then she spoke to her creations, specifically Astal;

" _Quartilia is in ruin, Astal, and you must bare the responsibility for this disaster. You are undisciplined, unloving, and reckless with the strength that I have given you. You have brought shame to all you were created to protect, including fair Leda. By throwing the elements and this world out of balance, you have surrendered your innocence._ " With the snapping of her fingers, new knowledge came to the minds of Astal and Leda. Who looked down and saw something unmentionable. "Oh my.. WE'RE NAKED!" The two then covered themselves.

" _Yes, your nakedness is shameful, and in Astal's action, all have been shamed. Cover thyselves in these..._ " She then introduced the concept of clothing, with Leda covering her shame by wearing light magenta pants and robe with belt. Astal then covered his shame in what appeared to be a pair of purple pajamas that went from his chest to his feet. " _For your destructive transgression against the world you were born to serve, your penalty is clear: Banishment._ " Her heavenly voice broke as she spoke this. Astal frowned, sighed and turned to Leda. "I... I don't know what to say, Leda. I'm so sorry..." "You don't have to say anything, Astal. I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen." Taking pity on him, Leda gave him her jewel, which she wore around her neck. "Here, have this, so you can remember me..." And then, Astal was all alone, with Leda safely back home, felt something tight wrap around his wrists. They were chains of gold, and felt that he was being tied unto a rock, and sent screaming into the sky, his cry of agony and confusion unheard as he was sent screaming to the moon, there he fell into a seemingly endless sleep...

After banishing Astal, Antowas confronted Jerado in The Underworld, along with his battalion of demons. " _IF IT ISN'T MIGHTY ANTOWAS HERSELF... ABOUT AS MIGHTY AS A STARVING RAT._ " He taunted, his creeps barking at the beautiful goddess. " _I am far stronger than you take me credit for, Jerado. This world is to be a paradise, I will not let you taint that paradise._ " " _BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD ONE OF YOUR OWN HAS ALREADY DONE SO... IT WAS ASTAL, WASN'T IT? HAHAHAHAHA... PUNY LITTLE TYKE, DOESN'T EVEN KNOW HIS OWN STRENGTH._ " " _Your temptation by the capture of Leda has forced his hand. It wasn't his fault..._ " " _AND YET, YOU CAST HIM INTO THE VACUUM OF SPACE FOR A LITTLE PROPERTY DAMAGE. A SHOW OF COWARDICE, TO BANISH SOMEONE SO YOUNG AND FULL OF POTENTIAL._ " " _It was your creation Geist and your army of monsters that made him crack the ocean floor and throw the elements and nature out of balance._ "

" _AND YOU'VE NEVER HAD THE NERVE TO DO WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE A NAME IN THIS UNIVERSE! FAIR ANTOWAS, FOREVER SCRAPING THE DUST OF HER BETTERS! IS IT NO WONDER THAT YOU WERE CAST FROM OLYMPUS?!_ " Before he could finish his rant, Jerado was sealed into a massive crystal, and Antowas shattered it in front of the fiends with the last of her powers. She then arose out of The Underworld returning to her palace above the clouds, where she slept again. Leda came back to the tree where she used to play with Astal, and she went about her usual routine of feeding birds, creating plants, aiding the growth of the forest, and swimming. It all just wasn't the same without Astal, and at the end of every night, she would pray to Antowas to reconsider her banishment, and bring him back to Quartilia. Her day went about the normal fashion, but the birds flew away when she saw a familiar figure. That figure was Giest, now clad in a dark black suit with red sleeve cuffs and a red and blue collar from which held his sapphire necklace. "Hello, Leda...It's been about, what, three months? I've been looking everywhere for you..." He then grabs her by the hand and ascends into the dark sky. "ASTAAAAAAL!..."


	3. Planetfall

It has been more than three weeks since Astal was banished to the moon, the golden chains from Antowas holding his breathless form down around the stone satellite, with the lack of gravity causing his body to move up and down slightly. Blank as they were, his eyes were still wide open the day he came to chained to the stone spheroid, lifelessly staring at the world below him. Antowas, fearing that she may have killed him by sending him to the moon, crushed by guilt, Antowas destroyed Jerado's physical form, escaped from The Underworld with the last of her powers, and slept again. Although his body was no more, Jerado's spirit was wide awake, observing every corner of the globe, and his servant Geist was still roaming free. Without Astal to protect her, Leda was a more than easy target for kidnapping once again.

"ASTAAAAAAL!..."

Incredible as it may seem, Leda's cry for help penetrated Astal's earlobes, 238,900 miles above Quartilia. He knew that if he was still confined to the moon, Leda would suffer again. Gaining a few seconds to stay awake, he attempted to break his chains, but his lack of oxygen had robbed him of most of his strength, and the difficulty breathing had significantly hampered his attempt to release himself. Through Antowas' enchantments, the chains defied gravity and held Astal to the moon's surface, forcing him to exhale and knock him unconscious again. The jewel necklace that Leda gave him started glowing, and then surrounded Astal in a brilliant light. A voice spoke out from inside the jewel;

" _RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE_."

As if through some miracle, fresh air filled Astal's lungs, and a pulse of energy ran through his body, restoring his demigod-like strength. He broke free of his chains, three chain links remaining on the gold bands around his wrists, cracked the moon's surface, sending him plummeting for Quartilia's atmosphere, managing to avoid burning up and crash-landed into a large canyon, sending rocks flying everywhere opposite the direction of Astal's landing, which left a tremendous crater. Wasting no time, he got back on his feet, breathing in the fresh air of his old home, and thought to himself; _Nothing in the world means more to me than Leda- Nothing! I will find her. I will find the one who took her, and crush him! It's only a matter of time!_

He opens his eyes and see that Quartilia has changed, somehow, in some way, oceans are drying up, the earth, cracked, plants dried and dying, the gemstones embedded throughout the world dirty, shattered and dusty. The animals that were once plentiful on the surface, were now in short supply, and running for their lives from the monstrosities Jerado left behind, some to be feasted upon by them, or worse, transmuted into demonic undead. Astal's task was clear: Find Leda, save her, and restore the balance of life elements on Quartilia. Leda's jewel necklace started glowing in a specific direction, with Astal hoping it would show him to where Leda was taken.

A horde of Goblins with amethyst helmets and leggings came to attack him, with the pointy end of their helms ramming towards Astal. He found them to be of little challenge, and tossed a couple of them over his head, blowing them away with his super-breath power, sending them crashing for the ground below, destroying them, barely landing a critical blow on him. From the shriveled bushes and from further down the canyon, a large band of Goblins came running towards him with swords and spears made out of stones and broken gems, singing a poem of battle, which Astal had memorized in his first encounters with them;

" _Poke, slice, cut!  
Strength is found in numbers.  
Maim, crush, burn!  
Smother the foe with our battered bones!_"

Astal hoists up a mighty Malathyst Tree from the ground, and throws it into the direction of the charging Goblin horde, crushing all of them beneath the Malathyst's mighty oak. He proceeds onward, near a cavernous area flourishing with crystals. Leda's jewel glows again, shining a light towards the entrance, towards a purple bird with green feathers and underbelly, brown eyes, strands of hair pointing back from its head. She was trapped in a cage made out of sticks and bamboo, a shimmer of green lights surrounding it. A group of Goblins wearing topaz armor were stationed here, and their sergeant hung from the cage the bird was trapped in. Astal spoke, he raised his fist to the heavens; "Get out of the way!"

""What? It couldn't be..!" Shouted a Goblin. "So it is." Said the sergeant. "Astal, If you're here to steal our lunch, come and take it from us!" Astal accepted the challenge and defeated and destroyed the Goblins, alongside their sergeant with the slightest of ease, the magic creating the cage fading and disappearing, freeing the bird. It then flutters into Astal's left arm, nuzzling his cheek, despite physical protest. "You're safe now, little one. Now stay here, so nobody can harm you." He soon put the bird down, but the bird fluttered close behind. He sighed, taking the bird into the cavern, prompting it to stay there, turning around, but the bird flied back behind him. Astal groaned; "Oh by the goddess... Get away, you stupid bird, quit following me!"

Jerado's bird-like minions fly towards him with diamond-tipped beaks, but he defeats them with minimal injuries, and crushes another horde of advancing monsters with another Malathyst Tree, and stood by a rocky edge. The bird that continued to follow Astal chirped to him to warm him of Goblin archers borrowed in the ground far out in the distance, firing arrows at Astal. He dodges them, as the arrows come down near him and lands on several of the archer's allies. He and the bird rush towards the cave, hoping to escape the archers.

The cave did not appear much safer either, with stalactites and stalagmites pointing everywhere, and a swarm of Cycloptic Bats flying around, blocking the light provided by the cracks in the ceiling. A variety of rocky platforms were in Astal's path, and he jumped and ran to the exit as best as he could. He ran into several more fearsome foes along the way, including a larger Goblin incased in heavy alexandrite armor and ugly flying creatures with emerald stinger tails. He was hurt a little, but he managed to defeat them. and being easily able to heal himself with Jurgen fruit, which he found scattered around the cave.

The path ahead was yet treacherous, with heavy Goblins hiding in the ceiling, dropping down on Astal and the bird, but the two are lucky to avoid their impact, with Astal punching them into oblivion afterwards. Another swarm of Cycloptic Bats flutters above Astal and the bird again, their flapping wings and aquamarine tails blurring the light from the holes in the ceiling. The bird warbled about the danger arriving, and Astal ducked under a large rock, to avoid the bats. When the creatures cleared out, and illumination returned, he and his aviary companion knew it was time to go before another flock would come to threaten them. The exit was soon located after a few minutes, the chains flying around Astal's arms as he raised his hands in thanks to Antowas for the strength he was given.

A dying forest was found at the end of the cavern, the darkness indicated that night had come. Astal and the bird yawned and tried to sleep on the dry grass. Their rest would be brief in a few minutes, as a flock of more Cycloptic Bats flied above them. Astal and the bird awoke, and saw them flying around the moon, then it's whiteness turning to a sickening yellow, with a red dot turning around it. This moon turned out to be a larger Cycloptic Bat, with it's eyelid-like skin appearing, along with a tail, six frightening spikes appearing from it's 'eyelids', accompanied by a more fearsome pair of wings, it turned a ghastly gaze towards Astal and charged.

It flied over Astal, but he jumped up towards the Evil Eye, managing to land two overhead slams on the monster. It flew around the trees and directly at Astal, but he threw it over his head, landing hard into the dirt. Frustrated, the large bat closes its eye, and bounces around Astal in an attempt to harm him, but bashes into the trees and in the area where its fellow Cycloptic Bats lifted it back into the battleground, where the Evil Eye begins bouncing up and down to strike again. Astal whistles at the creature's determination, but suddenly, Leda's jewel shoots a glow of energy into the bird, causing it to strike the bat with it's beak, sending the bird in all directions, producing beams of powerful energy around the forest, injuring the creature and dizzying the bird.

Silent, but thankful for the mysterious power of his avian ally, Astal delivers the finishing blow to the Evil Eye with a well-placed punch, and the dark bouncing eyeball melts into the grass, dead. As Astal and the bird moved away, the bats flew to the body of their fallen comrade and mourn, but then Geist teleports in. He approached the deceased monster, and using a spell he learned from Jerado before his physical death, extracted the life essence of the Evil Eye, causing it's body to fade away. His mysterious, yet dark task complete, he frightens away the Cycloptic Bats, cackles into the night as he teleports away, with Astal failing to notice him. As he gazed at the downfall of Quartilia in greater detail, he spoke aloud to express his sorrow and anger;

"So much pain and destruction… This won't do at all." He murmured. "I've got to find Leda, or die trying. The guy who kidnapped her must've taken her somewhere. I'll beat the snot out of him! I'll make him tell me where she is! I'll take him and-" The bird fluttered up to his arm and nuzzled his left cheek again. Agitated by the small, helpless being, Astal's rage breaks and he tries to shoo the bird away. "Will you quit FOLLOWING me?! Stupid bird… Get out of my way, or I'll have you for dinner!" The bird is frightened and sad, but follows him still even as he makes camp. He sighs and falls asleep, with the bird beside him, the campfire illuminating them both.

 ** _FIFTY MINUTES BEFORE ASTAL'S LANDING..._**

Somewhere, someplace, Leda found herself sleeping on a pile of hay on top a slab of stone carved into the shape of a bed. She awoke, and knew she was trapped in a dark, mysterious dungeon. She wasn't alone, she saw two large, hideous spiders next to her, with shells made of heliodor, with claws pointing towards her stomach. "No... Stay away!" The spiders claw the wall behind her, as the dungeon cell was dark, and impaired their vision. Leda ran to the door, which was made of diamond, and next to impossible to destroy. She then realized it was open, and locked the door, with the spiders clawing away at it.

Leda ran down the stairs, and into the hallway, and found herself in another mysterious chamber that bring back terrifying memories. This was indeed the throne room of Jerado, except befouled with cobwebs, broken columns, chipped stone, a missing throne, yet the torches were still there, in fine condition and burning clear as day. New additions to the room were a stone gargoyle, strange large stick in the middle with arms, and small pieces of leather dangling from each arm, and a bubbling cauldron next to it. She tried to leave through the large door where she came in the first time, but it was locked. A growling was heard, Leda's spine tingled, and she saw the growl from the stone gargoyle, one of it's eyes enchanted and staring at her.

She ran off into another room, and found several animals in a variety of cages, including the animals she saw today. As the goddess Antowas also blessed her with the power to commune with animal life, she heard their many cries of help. She heard cackling, chewing and sadistic giggling from the room next to the cages, it was dining hall for Jerado's minions, a fireplace adjacent to a square table where Goblins, flying demons, Orcs and more hideous beings cooked and feasted upon the natural animals of Quartilia, and drinking from goblets filled with wine, water, blood, or a mixture of all three. Panicked and saddened, Leda pounded on the door, only to find the door swing open, and Leda falling into Geist's arms. "Sleep well, Leda?" He asked smugly. "You will burn for your cruelty, Geist!" She yelled at him. "Not for right now, I think. Now, let's get you situated in the throne room. Jerado's been wanting something special for you..."

"Jerado is dead, Antowas struck him down in The Underworld." Said Leda. "His body is gone, true. But his spirit lives on, and he's NOT happy with the way things are so long as you're human." Replied Geist. "What do you mean?" "You'll see when he gets here..." He cackles as he ties Leda to the armed stick in the throne room, the cauldron bubbling and boiling below her. Whatever dark purpose would come to Leda, she would wait for a considerable amount of time, as Geist closed the door with a thunderous slam...


	4. Up The River

The morning sun rose over the wasteland where Astal made camp. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, and as he expected, the bird he rescued earlier from topaz-armored Goblins was still with him. _Why is he or she still here?_ Astal thought to himself. _Doesn't that little flyer know how dangerous I am?_ Shrugging off the aviary straggler's companionship, he decided now was as good a time as ever to continue his search for Leda. He saw smoke out in the distance, and a collection of unusual shapes and a wall of rocks around it and a greenish river next to it. He thought to himself; _This must be a settlement for other humans... Leda mentioned something about a thing called 'Civilization'. Could that be it? Could I find answers to where she was taken from there?_ Making his way to the wall of the supposed human village, a humble memory returned to Astal, when he had a daily conversation with Leda while protecting her.

Three months before his battle with Geist and before his banishment, Astal had always been Leda's sole guardian as her power was to create life. He was concerned that someone would come to capture her and exploit that power. During that Old Age of Wonders, when Quartilia was large, green and prosperous, Astal and Leda would usually socialize and eat around a certain tree that blossomed with plums. One day, Astal asked Leda; "Is there going to be any other human beings out there, apart from us? Will they be just as strong as we are?" Leda turned to him and answered humbly; "Civilization takes time to rise, Astal. There's going to be towns, farms, cities and walls to protect those towns. The Heavenly Tablets that Antowas gives us weekly says they should be ready in about three months." Astal had his concerns and skepticism, and didn't know what most of those words meant, but he came up to hug Leda. "That sounds... Nice. If anything goes wrong, I'll be there for you, Leda. I promise." She giggles. "I know."

After reliving that bittersweet memory, knowing he's been away on the moon three months, essentially breaking that promise to defend Leda, Astal came to the doors of the village wall where a guard wielding a sharp-looking stick with a pointy stone on top looking at Astal. "Go away." The guard said. "Strangers aren't welcome!" "I'm here looking for information. A brown-haired girl with an emerald hair band. Somebody took her, which way was she taken?" "I know not who you speak of, Crimson Bane, nor would I be obliged to answer that question. Begone before I am forced to call the city watch! Wait, what's that...? V-Very well, m'lord. In you go."

The gates swung wide open, almost allowing Astal to enter the city. This seemed to be easier than he anticipated. The bird rests on his shoulder as he walks through the gate, to be greeted by a bearded man in green robes. "To my observatory, if you'd please. Have no fear, Astal. I have permitted the guards to rest their weary eyes." Astal was surprised. "How do you know my name? Who are you?" "Explanations will arrive in due time, Astal. Now come. And er, be brief on our walk. There are many here who are concerned about letting strangers through the city gates and fear their protection compromised." Astal shrugged and followed the old man through the entrance, the bird flying close behind him.

Astal, the bird and the old man man their way through the street, greeting several buildings on their way to the old man's observatory. Several people were out and about their daily business, as to what business they attended to, Astal knew not. What he did know is that the townspeople were all staring at him, in a seemingly disapproving eye and heard several murmurs like 'doombringer', 'destroyer', monster, and the most common, 'Crimson Bane'. It isn't long before Astal and the old man reach the observatory. Inside is a a table with two seats, a shelf full of books, and a large thing called a telescope poking into the ceiling.

"Care for a seat and breakfast?" The old man asked Astal. "I couldn't possibly-" "I insist, surely, you must be peckish from your journey. Sit." Astal takes a seat and the bird stands on the table. "Ooh, what's your name, you pretty little birdie?" The bird chirped at him. "They call me Lasryt, the Astrologer. I study the stars and their patterns and the stories concealed by the constellations." "The stars?" Astal asked as he ate an Kifryn Apple. "Did these special stars tell you about me and Leda?" "Yes, and about your noble attempt to defend Quartilia from the fires of Jerado and his minion Geist, who has taken Leda again." "I knew it!" He slams the table, causing it to dent. "Do you know where he took her?"

"I do, lad." Lasryt explained. "But this city needs your help, son. Our plants have been poisoned by a monster called The Forest Fiend, another one of Jerado's most dangerous minions." "But I need to find Leda first, she can fix this!" Said Astal, the bird warbled next to him, trying to tell him something. "Patience, lad. You will find her sooner than you think, but first, you need to help this village be green and prosperous as Quartilia once was before your little... Tantrum. Our forefathers saw you battling Jerado's creatures but bringing ruin to every plant and stone that stood in your way."

He soon understood why they called him 'Crimson Bane', as he was aware of the places he nearly destroyed three months ago. "Unless the poison is gone, the city's plants and crops will wither and die and turn into hideous monstrosities that will eat us. The antidote fruit blossoms from the creature's abdomen. You will find The Forest Fiend in the Birchleaf Reaches, swim through The River of Dreams, and the creature will not be far behind, contaminating another forest." Astal was skeptical, but agreed to help the Astrologer and his neighbors. After all, he could remember when his fellow humans began as little more than cave dwellers, and wanted to make up for frightening them by making a good name for himself. It's what Leda would have done. Astal leaves the city with a sack for the antidote.

To his frustration and lack of surprise, the bird followed Astal to his new destination. He entered a rocky area at the head of the river, with several of Jerado's flying monsters lurking about. Astal was now surrounded by two things he disliked; monsters and water. He jumped over several rocks, trying to avoid the water. His only consolation during the search for The Forest Fiend was how pretty this part of The Deep Forest ahead of the city looked. There were even spaces of water that could not easily be jumped across, so Astal made ends meet by jumping on the heads of the flying creatures, stunning them for a few seconds allowing Astal to reach dry land.

Astal and the bird eventually reached the riverbed of The River of Dreams, and no way for him to cross, and he still didn't know how to swim. There were several rocky platforms across the water, each with spiraling, dying plants on each. He climbed unto a sea-faring creature with purple skin, yellow eyes and teeth, and a large jaw. Believing the creature could take him to the other side, where the Fiend is said to lurk, he slammed down on the monster's back. The creature moaned, and started to swim and carry Astal and the bird over The River of Dreams. _What was this place like before Jerado ruined it?_ The large fish carried him through the murky waters of the once-beautiful river, with several creatures flying towards Astal. He dodged and threw most of them aside, but it was difficult for him to avoid their diamond-tipped beaks, scratching him several times. "Are you just gonna flutter there? Help me out!"

He whistled to the bird, and it flew away bringing him a healing fruit that instantly treated him of his injuries by Jerado's monsters. Astal also noticed several thorny plants and rocky platforms occupied by Goblins and slammed the large fish's back again, it extended its neck, revealing emerald embedded in it's throat, and it instantly chomped away at the creatures, stones and plants in their path. The beast crashed into the rocks that lay next to the dry land, and Astal and the bird came to the shore and proceeded into the Birchleaf Reaches, to confront the alleged Forest Fiend.

Astal and the bird came into the middle of the forest, taking notice of several odd-looking trees, which then started glowing as sparkles came to gather in the middle of a large orb of energy. The trees then withered and died and all had gone black and the orb of energy was replaced a monstrous looking tree with a flower bud as a head, and roots stretching out of the ground, and fruit sprouting from the abdomen. The Forest Fiend was in Astal's sights. The tree shot out seeds that transformed into flower petals and heads that spun downwards. Thinking quickly, Astal jumped over the giant flower heads and smacked the beast with an overhead slam.

The creature signified it's pain and injury as the flower bud head stretched out in a grotesque manner that resembled a human being's left hand. It spat out more giant seeds that blossomed into trees in the grisly fiend's image that blocked Astal's path, but he pushed the trees aside and slammed the creature again as it's head lurched down to bite him. Again stretching it's hand-like head in pain, it slammed the earth below it but narrowly dodged by Astal. It had a perpetual fog swirling above the forest, and it shot more distraction seeds to delay Astal but he slammed the creature again without effort. Tiring of battle, the Fiend's grotesque roots dug their way out of the dry dirty and moved the monster around like legs. It swooped it's head down to swallow Astal again and shot more tree seeds to crush Astal, but it failed, as Astal punched and kicked the monster again and again, collected the fruit it grew, and the monster's body faded away and it's head remained, falling to the ground in pieces. Astal sighed, and stuffed his satchel with the monster's fruit.

The Fiend's head dissolved into life essence as well by Geist's magic, and extracted itself into his sapphire necklace. The necklace also served as a means for Jerado to observe the events on Quartilia, and saw Astal defeat The Forest Fiend. He again beckoned the bird to find somewhere safe to stay, but again, the bird followed him as he returned to the city. Jerado cackled into the night as he taunted Astal in his ghostly form; "HA! _SO, THE PRODIGAL SON OF ANTOWAS HAS MADE PLANETFALL. SEARCHING FOR LITTLE LEDA, IS HE? WELL HE CAN LOOK ALL HE WANTS, THERE'S NO LITTLE GIRL HERE! HEH HEH, HA HA HA HA! BUT, DON'T GIVE UP HOPE JUST YET, ASTAL. THE MORE YOU FIGHT, THE STRONGER I BECOME... HA HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_ "

 ** _THIRTY MINUTES BEFORE ASTAL'S LANDING..._** **  
**

Leda had forgotten how dark and quiet it was in Jerado's Palace the day she was kidnapped. Whatever dark purpose Geist and his master had in mind, it most certainly involved her, and it would bring pain to the inhabitants of Quartilia. It wasn't long before Geist returned with a bag of mysterious findings.

Leda was thirsty, and curious about what Geist brought back. "Geist... What's in the bag?" "A pile of novelties." Replied Geist as he poured the items unto a table. Leda was confused and repulsed by what Geist had brought. Several animal eggs, body parts, exotic oils and mysterious powders. He stirred the smoking cauldron which began to glisten to a sickening purple hue as Geist spoke and threw ingredients into the cauldron; "Raven's egg... Blood of a hen, extra froth... Eyeballs of a crocodile... Juice from a durian... awaken in the mortal plane, mighty lord Jerado! Appear from the smoke and behold!"

The purple mist turned to a dark blue mist, with two yellow eyes peering from the smoke, and a familiar twisted grin taking form. " _GOOD EVENING, PRECIOUS LEDA. I PRESEUME YOU STAND IMPRESSED WITH GEIST'S TEACHINGS IN ALCHEMY. COMFORTABLE?_ " "Not really..." Leda replied. "What do you want from me this time? To create life as you see desirable?"

" _NOT THIS TIME._ " Said Jerado. " _SUCH WISHES COUD EASILY BE FULFILED BY MY FIENDS IN A MATTER OF HOURS. ASTAL WOULD WISH TO BE HERE SOON TO SAFE YOU FROM ME AND GEIST. WHAT I HAVE PLANNED IS TO ENSURE YOU WILL NEVER BE FOUND BY HIM AGAIN. HUMAN, THAT IS. HEH HEH HAHAHAHAHA!_ " The taunting laughter of Jerado was matched by those produced by his minions in the throne room. Leda was too frightened and confused to resist what would come next. She thought and prayed for Astal's return...

 _Astal... Please come back home... I need you! Quartilia needs you!_


	5. Braving The Winds and Fire

After retracing his steps and making an exhausting trek back down the river into the city, Astal managed to return to the gates with the bird still at his side. He soon decides that the bird's company is neither good or bad news, and it has proven helpful at times, as it demonstrated a mysterious power to mystically bounce about, using it's beak like an arrow tip to strike Jerado's minions the ground, and it brought fruit through which Astal could heal himself. Carrying the antidote fruit dropped by The Forest Fiend, Astal ran up to the gate knocking on the door. "What? You again?! I thought I told you to go away!" Said the guard, as he loomed over the wall. "I have what The Astrologist asked for. He says it'll cure the poisoning of your crops and trees before they turn into man-eating monsters." "A cure, eh?" "I even slain the fiend that poisoned them." "Fair enough. Step right in lad." The gates then swing up, and Astal and the bird quickly rush inside.

The town was up and about as Astal remembered it. The people inside, going about their business, still with the same suspicious stares they gave to Astal the last time he came in. He soon made his way to the observatory where Lasryt was waiting. He found him looking through the telescope, presumably discovering another piece of Quartilia's history hidden among the stars. He looked a bit shocked, and tired and rested on a chair. "What did you see, Lasryt?" Asked Astal as the bird rested on the table next to the chair. "Something tragic and surprising... I dare not speak it to rouse either confusion or fear..." He soon sipped his tea, and the bird nuzzled his cheek and he looked back at the bird, and cradled it, with Astal assuming that Lasryt knew something that he didn't, and could hear him whisper 'poor girl'. "Um, sir?"

As if through some miracle, the tea had restored Lasryt to his cheerful, fascinated self as his expression turned from that of shock to joy. It helped that Astal brought back the fruit that The Forest Fiend grew that could save the plant life in the city. "Ah yes, how could I forget this fruit? Thank you, laddie! I assume you want me to tell you where Leda was taken..." "That's right. Where is she?" "I don't know where she is per say, but I DO know that Geist came to the city a few days ago prior to your return and slaughtered a few of our livestock and collected their parts for a spell... He flew south, into a valley ripe with burning crevices and a hotbed for Jerado's demons. Follow the falling sun and the rising moon towards the primordial Sea of Clouds. Turn north, towards The Glacial Rift, and Jerado's old palace lies directly in the middle of the snow-stricken wastes."

Astal then shook his hand. "Your wisdom brings me closer to finding Leda and granting her freedom. Thank you!" "I have a feeling you'll find her sooner than you think, lad." Lasryt responded. "Wish me luck!" "That I will. Good luck, my boy! And don't forget some essential supplies!' He soon sees those 'essential supplies' in the form of a backpack filled with food and water, enough to last him and the bird several weeks, and a pan for cooking some food. Grateful for the supplies and the directions and the rations, Astal comes back to hug Lasryt, and found something he had not found since returning home; Compassion. He soon leaves the city with a smile on his face with the bird not far behind as the gates slam shut behind.

Feeling that he could take on whatever Jerado had summoned to destroy him, Astal proceeded with the utmost confidence of victory by marching into the Volcanic Valley. Coming across a heavy goblin in crystal armor summoning flames from its hands, Astal sucked in and blew forth a fearsome gust of air fanning out the flames and dizzying the goblin that brought them forth. He then kicked it over his head and destroyed the monster. The heat did not seem to affect Astal's performance in the slightest. The jagged edges and fires did not hinder his progress. He had not broken a sweat, the bird, however, was slightly frightened and fatigued by the harsh environment. Astal prompted the bird to rest on his shoulder.

"Relax, little lady. I'm in my element, and I know it!" Yelled Astal with a determined smirk. even when confronted by a serpent made of solid fire, Astal blew it away too, and continued on his path. Across a rocky bridge over a boiling river of lava, where multiple flame serpents emerged to block Astal's path, burn him, and possibly devour him. He drove most of them off with a gust of wind, and ran past those remaining. His burning pace not hindered even when the volcano way in the distance hurling forth crispy boulders, scattering into the sky and raining down upon him. He soon lifted a wide enough rock to shield him from the hail of burning boulders from the volcano and soon Astal and the bird retreated into the sanctuary of a cavern, after Astal laid down the wide rock he used to protect him and the bird.

The cavern contained blunt stalagmites, and electricity generating in several areas of the cave. Apart from the heat, the cave was next to harmless to Astal and the bird, and soon came to rest on the floor, both drinking from a bottle of water to slate their thirst in the intensity of the valley. They would not rest for long as a dragon made of solid fire flies into their direction and breathes fire at them. Astal and the bird escape the flame just in time, and as the dragon turns to charge at him, Astal breathes in deep and blows at the Fire Guardian, and freezes it's body in stone, sending the creature's head skyward. "The bigger they are..." Astal lifts the petrified dragon's body and slams it back with a destructive suplex.

The dragon's body bounces around for a while, visibly writhing in pain, and the disembodied head reattaches itself into the body as it burns away it's stone layer, bursting forth more seething flames. It uses the same plan of attack on Astal when it first saw him, with the same results, the impact of Astal's subsequent suplex maneuvers damaging the creature further, in spite of it breathing fire around the petrified body to repel Astal. It tried again two times, the body of the Fire Guardian rendered inoperable by Astal's attacks, and the creature flails its disembodied head breathing fire anywhere it could reach to take Astal with him, but Astal used his breath attack on the grisly creature's head, landing on the floor, and shattering, and the body fading away in the process. "That went well..." Said Astal. He then excitedly raised his fist to the air. "What am I saying? That was GREAT!" The bird nuzzled him to warn about something. A slight rumbling was heard. "Okay, I think we can keep going..." The cave slowly begins to collapse upon itself, but Astal and his avian ally leave just in time.

What awaited them next was the Sea of Clouds. A mighty gust of clouds swept beneath the rocky platforms Astal was maintaining balance on, and a swirling vortex of light and darkness shimmered out in the distance. Astal jumped from rock to rock, and tried to stay balanced on pink rocks that moved up and down and left to right, with Jerado's minions fluttering about trying to knock him down, but he casts them aside with a few overhead slam attacks and breath attacks. This place seemed so dismal, and yet, so beautiful, Astal thought, and he wondered if Jerado made this Sea of Clouds possible. There would be no time for Questions, as Astal had to keep going, for Leda's sake. He soon scales the rocky platforms in a matter of minutes, coming across a rocky bridge, with a vortex tunnel swirling around it.

The dissonant quiet of the tunnel would be interrupted by a yellow-skinned Behemoth with white hair and Mouflon horns pointed straight at Astal. The horns then extend to lunge at Astal like pincers from a crab or maybe a scorpion, but Astal tosses the hideous beast of Jerado's making over his head and it bounces across the bridge, damaging it somewhat. It lunges at him again, but he once more tosses the beast away with a thunderous suplex. The beast then ceases charging at him, and again, using its horns like a weapon, tries to grind Astal into the stone with the sharp end, managing to scratch him a few times. After landing enough critical blows on the monster, it's horns begin to disintegrate as the grisly monster kneels in death and defeat. Astal and the bird walk away from the scene of the battle, hoping to find shelter for the night, not looking behind them as The Behemoth's life essence is scrounged up once again by Geist's death magic.

He soon makes camp next to a tree, after gathering some sticks for the fire, he and the bird share a hearty dinner to celebrate his victory of the minions of Jerado, and toasted to Leda's rescue and the restoration of Quartilia. Then the brave boy laughed, and gave thanks to Antowas for that day's work which the goddess had granted him. After finishing their supper, Astal fell into a satisfied sleep, with the bird snuggling him. His dreaming brought him back to the time when he and Leda were together, in harmony with nature and joyful. He could remember that he was different from Leda as night an day, she was sweet, gentle, and could never harm anyone, but Astal's memory took him to the times of his short temper, uncertainty and overdoing what his strength was meant for. He could remember Leda's various lectures;

" _Astal, please stop. You're scaring everyone!... Nobody's going to hurt me... You've got to trust somebody sometime... try a little compassion, my friend. Please, Astal..._ " "Leda..." The redhead murmured in his sleep. "I'm sorry if I couldn't help you this time... Compassion... Trust... I think I learned just what that meant today..." The bird heard those whispers, and nuzzled against his cheek, as the campfire still burned brightly, smoking into the dim skies above...

 ** _TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE ASTAL'S LANDING..._** **  
**

Leda was still tied to the large stick in the ground with arms, wondering, fearing for what may come next. Praying to Antowas for her to release Astal from the moon to free her from this nightmare that Jerado and Geist had in mind. "Is the bluebird extract almost finished?!" Geist yelled at the goblins brewing in a separate cauldron. "Nearly there, my dark prince." "Delays will not be tolerated! I want this potion ready for the transformation spell!" "What have you brought me here for, Geist? Why does Jerado talk so much about _taking away_ my humanity?" Geist flies over to Leda, staring menacingly as he kisses her hand. Pulling from her bindings, she slaps him in the face. He only laughed and said;

"While it is true that our lord and master Jerado desires Quartilia to be ruled and turned into a world of his own, it would be most unwise to question his judgement. He plans to have you out of the picture by turning you into those harmless pests you love to nurture back in your forest home. Perhaps a deer, or a bird, or a fish. Perhaps even a flea, a useless little flea... Jerado has decided to turn you into a creature that you like most. Ironic, isn't it? You helped them, and now you'll be part of them. And fodder for Jerado's demon army. I've thought of many pleasures with you... Perhaps it is better that you die in the stomach of a goblin. Desire clouds my reason, and desire of others has no part in his grand design..."

Fearing for whatever implications lay head, Leda began to cry and whimper, as the cauldron below her bubbled and boiled, enshrouding her in a purple mist. "Insert the ingredients and begin." Said Geist. One by one, Jerado's minions began inserting bits and pieces, pouring potions and other liquids into the cauldron to begin the spell, with a buff of purple smog taking the shape of a bird, hanging precariously over Leda's head, realizing what Jerado wanted her turned into.


	6. Soldier Red in The Frozen Wastes

As a seemingly cloudy sunrise arrived over the bleak lands adjacent to the Glacial Rift, partially concealed by The Forbidden Mountains of The Far North, a beam of sunshine struck Astal's face, awakening him with a rub in his eyes and a mighty yawn. His yawn awakened the bird too, who nuzzled up to his cheek like always. He no longer minded the aviary's supernatural presence, in fact, it made his journey a little less lonely. With a hopeful smile, he stretched, and sought a hearty breakfast.

 _Leda can't be too far away now_ , he thought. _Just need to make it through this snowy expanse, and then I'll find Jerado's Crystal Palace!_ After feeding himself and the bird with blueberries, he fashions a jacket from a nearby shrubbery to protect himself from the harsh climate of the Rift, and builds himself a medium plate of armor and a helmet from nearby jewels for protection from the harsh fiends and traps that yet lie ahead. Surely, but swiftly, Astal and the bird charge onward.

Climbing several harsh peaks of solid ice, Astal and the bird soon encountered a leaping creature that looked to harm them, but Astal threw it aside like all the creatures sent to crush them before, and exploded in a brilliant crash of gem shards. Several platforms of ice above them where dropping snow down to freeze them in place, but Astal took the bird and safely eluded them as well as the 'leaper' creatures that came up to them. Looking away from the walls of solid ice, Astal could see the snowy plains and icy mountains that lay ahead.

Even with his mistake that nearly destroyed Quartilia's natural beauty, Astal looked forward into the field and icy mountain reaches, as though he were looking into a glowing night sky, whose beauty obscures the fact that it is a terrifying, endless, freezing void, and he should know because he's been to both Astal's steady pacing to Jerado's Palace was interrupted by more leaping creatures intent on killing him, and several new crawling creatures lurching about the path, using their crystal shell to conceal themselves among the almost natural shapes of ice that formed a bridge across the snowy chasm.

Astal and the bird eluded the new creatures, to be met by older, familiar flying creatures fluttering over a very thin stretch of ice that would appear to collapse at any minute. Gathering a running start, Astal darted across the bridge, as the pieces behind him that made up the ice bridge shattered and fell into the chasm below. He jogs across the crumbling light bridge and reached the other side of the Rift, slamming and dodging the flying creatures that stood in his path.

The next crevice of solid ice was scantly a challenge for the likes of Astal, but he knew the path ahead would be difficult. He noticed that several rocks of ice would be slippery, and could easily plummet down to a fearsome height below. He jumps more frozen platforms, manages the slippery rocks, snow traps, and eludes even more of Jerado's monsters in the hopes Astal and the bird would reach his palace. They were in luck, because a cavern entrance that they found at the end of the crevice lead them into a chamber in Jerado's palace, with the bird flying and chirping in Astal's general direction.

"You know this place?" He asked, the bird nodded. "Do you think you could lead me to the dungeons? It's a safe bet that Geist took her there." The bird nods and leads him through the various traps placed by Jerado, should they come through his secret cavern entrance. It was a magnificent sight. For something built as a home to the most unspeakable evil, there was an unusual beauty to it all. The palace halls were spiraling, scenic, and well-designed. But with anything that Jerado has built, it is certifiably evil, deceptive, and dangerous. Amethyst columns stood up from the ground, appearing as though they could tumble downwards at any minute, spiky pits were scattered about, waiting to impale an unwitting intruder. Stalagmites poked from out of the floor, and monstrosities of Jerado's design were in abundance. They knew he was here.

Astal wasted no time in eluding the dangers within the palace. He jumped from one column to another, following the bird to his destination, a handful of monsters detecting him, giving chase several floors below. Astal jumped from one crystal cylinder. sending the prior column tumbling to the mysterious depths below. He was stopped in his path by a stalactite in the ceiling, tumbling to the floor downwards, the bird desperately following him down, but his painful descent was slowed down by one of Jerado's flying creatures by landing on one of them, and descending to the floor safely.

He saw a rock, and over the rock was a row of spikes, and more flying monsters, beaks aimed straight for his head. He leaped up, and stomped on each of their heads, and moving past the spike pits, and climbed more solid platforms of amethyst while the jewel-beaked birds of evil charged towards him with the force of an arrow, all missing him narrowly, and reaching a new platform, with spiky stalactites moving up and down, ready to crush him and his aviary ally at any second. The bird flies ahead, and Astal speeds through the spikes, getting a few scratches on his new armor, a few across his bare arms, and face, but no serious injuries.

He soon reached a deep pit with more columns and flying creatures, and he jumps over them as well as the monsters, trying to avoid the spiky pits that lay below. He soon reaches the bottom of another floor, and is confronted by more crystal-beaked flying creatures, and casts them away with a mighty breath attack. Astal encounters a pool of lava with several platforms in the boiling pool that could take him to the other side, and he notices several stalactites hanging off the ceiling. He gets an idea. Astal whistles to the bird, requesting it to knock down the stalactites, and it charges with great speed knocking down the stalactites, falling into the lava, providing Astal a means to reach the other side. "Thanks." He soon finds his way to the next room, eagerly awaiting the next event.

Astal follows the bird into the throne room, and sees it in a sorrier state than usual. The torches were extinguished entirely, battered and rusting. The columns that decorated the room were reduced to dust, and the large torch in the center of the room that would summon Jerado was burnt out, cobwebs, bones, empty bottles and more cluttered the room. The only distinguishable change in the throne room was a large stick in the middle standing next to a cauldron, it appeared to have arms stretched on it, but they were broken off and decaying on the floor. The bird sadly nuzzled Astal, and he petted the bird. "Whatever they did to Leda, they won't get away with it, I swear." Said Astal. The bird warbled to signify her agreement. "Where'd you say the dungeons were again?" The bird chirped. "East side? Up the stairs? Third door to the left? Okay..."

He then bolts up the stairs into the east side of the palace, and was now in the dungeons. "Leda? Are you in here? Leda? Leda?..." Just then, he felt something grab at him. "AAAAH!" Before he knew it, he was frozen solid in a crystal prison similar to the one Leda was encased in in their first encounter with Jerado and his servants. "I REMEMBER YOU. I HAVE YOU NOW. I HAVE YOU NOW." The emerald prison soon floated about, with Astal stiff as a board, but his mouth free to move. "Hey! Let me outta here!" The invisible monster that Astal and Leda encountered in days long past was the creature Frostbite, an indescribable horror of Jerado's making. The bird fluttered helplessly, frozen in fear at the sight of the monstrosity. It gazed right back and taunted; "I REMEMBER YOU TOO, WEAKLING. MAKE NO ATTEMPT TO RESIST. MAKE NO ATTEMPT TO RESIST." With tears in her eyes, the bird watched as Frostbite wrapped it's thin tentacles around the emerald rock holding Astal in place. Fear and sadness turned into anger and charged at the horror, beak striking it's tentacles, with wings sharpened and slicing away at the grisly creature's body.

Frostbite indicated its pain as it's devilish purple skin glowed for a second to a gleaming, sickening pink. The Frostbite creature used one of it's yellow-ended tentacles that resembled hairs and using it like a rope, swung through the ceiling to smother the bird from behind. The bird dodges the maneuver, and lands another sharp wing string and pecks away at the creature. It's reasoning, clouded by pain, Frostbite begins spinning, until it takes the form of a miniature tornado, spinning round and around, dizzying its prisoner, but the bird escapes the demon's wrath, and attacks the creature when it dizzies as well. It swung, spun, lunged it's grisly tentacles at the bird, but the purple-feathered friend flew away, and struck at the beast, time and time again, the Frostbite coming closer to perishing.

The monster eventually shrivels, and Astal breaks free of his emerald prison, and the creature crumbles and dies, Astal walking away from the monster, with a thankful smile. The bird rests on the floor, and Astal turns around to see the bird kneel. "You didn't really have to help me. Thanks." He lowers his had in thanks, and a mix of sadness as he thinks. "You remind me of someone... ! Leda! I have to go now..." He turns around, intent on finding the third door to the left. "You really shouldn't follow me, ya know. I don't want anything to happen to you. And stay there!, I'll be out in a minute!" He runs towards the dungeon door, the bird chirps and gives chase, again never noticing the creature shrinking, until it is little more than its life essence, once more harvested by the powers of Geist.

From the day of his creation, Astal has learned much of the world around him, battled many enemies, but Leda had been the only thing that he had ever truly loved. But now, he found he was beginning to love this strange bird as well. As his power was boundless strength, Leda's power was to create and give life, beauty and wonder to the inhabitants of Quartilia. Prior to his encounter with his little flying friend that followed him everywhere, and his imprisonment on Quartilia's moon, when he goes to sleep and dream of better days, he can remember the time and the world in which Astal and Leda had been so happy, for every creature that lived there, that world had been beautiful and wondrous. He could even recall the time he was one with nature as the Goddess made him and Leda, and the concepts of clothing and shame remained a mystery. Who had destroyed that beautiful world? Who brought shame and misery to those who saw him? Who had nearly killed everyone on Quartilia with his bare hands? It was he. He destroyed it Astal had destroyed it. As the pain of the past floods his mind, he cannot help but remember the natural beauty and the absence of shame between him and Leda in what he remembers as The Old Age of Wonders. When Quartilia is free, Geist and Jerado defeated, and Leda freed, Astal cannot help but wonder; _Could times like those ever happen between me and her again?_

He enters Leda's cell to have his hopes crashing to the pavement when he sees graffiti on the wall next to a bed etched from the blood of two large spiders in the corner. There was a message written in the graffiti, and Astal reads it, his rage seething against his rival; "Dear Astal, if you're reading this, it means Lord Jerado and I have exhausted every possible effort to prevent you from finding Leda. She put up the minimal amount of fight, and tragically lost her humanity to our great magic. I challenge you to a duel in The Plains of Destiny. A harmless servant of mine will show you the way there, if you wish to see Leda again, you'll have to kill me. Not that I would count on you to win, I don't fight fair. Hope to see you soon, XOXO, Geist, Humble Servant of Jerado. PS; Eat my shorts."

Astal clutches his fist, and closes his eyes and lowers his head, teeth clenching in fury. "Geist... You rotting... MONSTER! YOU'RE A MONSTER!" Astal angrily smashed at the wall in which the graffiti ultimatum was printed on, and threw the cell bed behind him, making cracks into the walls, punching more and more until his knuckles bled. "Why couldn't I help you, Leda?! Why couldn't I save you this time? I... I'm a bad person and I know it!" Realizing how truly helpless he was to find Leda, believing he has lost her forever, he fell to his knees in defeat, the chains that held him down on Quartilia's moon seemed to weigh him down more than the vacuum of space, his knuckles bleeding into the marble floor. For the first time in his life, Astal cried. He wouldn't say why he cried, but the tears wouldn't stop. His tears fell down like rain, and the strange bird stayed by his side, nuzzling him for comfort.

" _He he he he he ha ha ha ha ha ha..._ " A mysterious voice started cackling away in the dungeon, Astal was too busy crying his eyes out and mourning for Leda's possible demise to see where the noise was coming from. " _Greasy, grimy gopher guts. Mutilated monkey meat. All the things we love to eat! A wench by our side and a jug of mead, there be the things that we most need, and-_ " Into Leda's cell entered a pathetic little man with a hunchback and a face that even a mother couldn't love. He wore a brown, saggy robe that went down to his legs, and wore a small handcrafted skull and several animal teeth as jewelry, and came about carrying a bucket and a mop. Astal saw the little bald hunchback, tears still fresh in his eyes and a puny fist clenched in the hunchback's general direction.

" _You must be Astal... The boy my master sent me to meet to bring to The Plains of Destiny..._ " The little man ululated towards Astal, murmured in tongues and raised his arms in a gesticulation that he did not understand. " _I am Fungus, loyal manservant to the prince of pain, the demigod of darkness, the baron of bones... Geist!..._ " Fungus stood at attention, and saluted for his master. "I suppose you're here to take me to him to fight for one last time..." Said Astal. " _Yes, but first, we must make camp for you near the plains of destiny, and a healthy luncheon for you, yes... It would be considered mad VERY mad to fight on an empty stomach... You are in... Pain, yes?_ " The hunchback responded, as he noticed the tears running down Astal's cheeks, too distraught at the thought of Leda perishing to respond to Fungus' insult. " _Then come, master Geist is not one to wait for long..._ " Astal and the bird followed the hunchback out the dungeon, and hoped he would bring them to The Plains for one last, epic confrontation. "Geist... You will never escape my fists!" Astal vowed, tears still leaking from his eyes. "I promise I will not stop until I destroy you, Jerado and free this planet!"

 _ **TEN MINUTES BEFORE ASTAl'S LANDING...**_

As she came to be smothered by a mystical purple fog that would be essential for a transformation spell, Leda could feel her life flashing before her eyes. Her life, her memories, and everything that she loved, would now belong to Jerado. She desperately prayed to Antowas for release, but all she could hear was her own prayers, the cackling of Jerado's abominations, Geist's mocking laughter, and the sickening bubbling of the cauldron below her. "Now to add the final ingredients and recite the final incantation..." Said Geist.

He flew up to Leda, and kissed her cheek, she slaps him across the cheek again, and the silently furious Geist begins reciting the incantation and adding the ingredients, all of which involved parts he scrounged from the animals he and Jerado's monsters slaughtered. "Wings so free, yet flutter so binding... Eggs and beak, and eyes so blinding... Let the smog settle around the girl at my word, and may sweet Leda become the creature that she loves most- A BIRD!" "A bird...?" Leda whispered weakly, as her strength was sapped by the shadowy incantation. The purple smog the surfaced from the cauldron bubbled from the chemicals more and more, until a massive puff of purple smog was blasted in her face, and she struggled not to breathe it in.

She coughed painfully as the smog started to sparkle, shine, and soon, Leda's body began to shrink in size, very small, falling free from her bindings on the stick that hoisted her above the cauldron, and the smog cloud spat her unto the floor, and the cloud soon dissolved into an acid that melted away at the cross, causing it's arms to melt and break off, falling to the floor. Jerado emerged from a fire in the bubbling pot, and gazed upon Geist's works with an abundance of mirth and boisterous pleasure. Then the dark god laughed, gazed upon the little creature that was once called Leda, as she awoke to see her changes, and screamed out to Astal for help, but it proved difficult with her beak, and that she could hardly speak in human tongue.

Geist walked up and fancied the helpless bird in his wrist, and stared at her menacingly. "Don't fret, my beautiful Leda. I've turned you into my own little bluebird of happiness. But now, Astal must never find out who you REALLY are. He will never recognize you as a small, defenseless winged nuisance. I shall feed you to Jerado's fiends! Sergeant!" A Goblin in topaz armor stepped forward to the humble Geist, and bowed. "What is your bidding, lord?" "Not much, Sergeant. Just a little lunch for your men and a distraction for Astal." "Of course, sir." The Goblin cackled as he placed the bird in a cage made of sticks and bamboo. "As for the rest of you," Geist continued. "go forth and kill!" He and his master cackled into the empty halls of the throne room, with Geist knocking over tables, burning them, and disintegrating the potions, chemicals, and a majority of potion ingredients, and took the cauldron with him, leaving almost no evidence of his enchantment, and Leda's transformation. She was fearing for her life, still shocked to know she would be eaten by Jerado's fiends. Still, she held on to hopes of Astal rescuing her at last, but getting him to recognize her would be a challenge.


	7. The Journey Concludes

Astal had lost much hope after discovering Leda may have been killed or transformed by Geist and Jerado's magic, and was nowhere to be found in The Crystal Palace. The trauma of that pointless search was so extreme, it caused him to finally cry. And once he began, it was difficult to stop, even when he kept looking, but the strange purple-furred bird that accompanied him from the beginning of his quest stayed with him still. After a long, boiling and sweaty journey to The Plains of Destiny, Astal and the bird follow the hunchback calling itself Fungus in the hopes of confronting his master for the final time. " _We are here, my friends. As we make camp here, you will depart for the final showdown at sunrise. I must say, these wastes are extensive. Is it true that the desolation of these plains were brought forth by your strength?_ "

As Astal dries his still-flowing tears, he opens his eyes, looks at the hunchback and nods, confirming that it was he who committed the deed, in his first bid to save Leda from Geist. He could almost remember the brutal fights from days long past like it was yesterday, when he laid waste to Jerado's minions, causing unspeakable destruction in the process. " _How shrewd! How very marvelous! Such destructive misbehavior pleases my master!"_ Fungus' reaction invokes neither shock nor disappointment, but instead, taking mirth and pleasure in Astal's shameful carelessness and cackles like a mad fool as he pitches together the tent and hoists it upward. He places a lantern and sleeping bags inside, and prompts Astal inside.

He casts aside his helmet and leaf jacket, and turns to face the bird. "I don't trust that creep one bit, stay outside, where it's safe." He tells her, who then rests at the entrance, as Astal climbs into his sleeping bag, still quietly hoping for Leda as Fungus laughs himself to sleep. He goes on to murmur Astal's past, the cave dwellers he frightened, and his upsetting of the delicate balance of nature. "If I wake up tomorrow, remind me to slug you." Fungus giggles more, and pulls his facial muscles into a repellent, nasty grin as he rests his eyes. Astal drys his still-forming tears and rests his eyes, and dreams of better days. _Leda... I hope I can still save you..._

Astal awakens himself and the bird at the crack of dawn, and find the hunchback has disappeared. Emerging from the tent, he saw a desolate, large field with vast mountains and deserts. Not a single green of plant life was seen growing for miles. He is fully aware that this disaster is his fault, and swore from that morning to make amends. Astal and his aviary ally saw a slowly-stampeding herd of massive, hideous insectoid creatures with four eyes, foreboding teeth, and grotesque mandibles. Knowing full well they will be to large to fight, Astal calls to the bird to rest on his shoulder, he has a plan.

As the creature yells at Astal and the bird, and when it makes attempt to devour them, Astal takes his aviary ally and charges under the beast's underbelly, still holding his friend close, avoiding the giant insect's clawed legs. The giant realizes that it's prey has snuck under it, and attempts to crush it underfoot. The movements of one of Jerado's most hideous and dangerous minions forces Astal to pace back and forth between the creature's legs, until he finds a way past the abominable ant, only to be greeted by more Goblins, and after he smites two of them, he is greeted by another giant.

The massive insect learns from the mistake of it's brethren, and stomps it's legs in a pattern, so as to smash down Astal and the bird, and prevent them from escaping the grisly creature's destructive appetite. Astal, still holding tight his frightened companion, charges past the leg stomping patterns of the insectoid monstrosity, and is greeted by a charging battalion of Goblins, some moving on the ground, others, wielding spears, are mounted on tan-skinned, green-eyed beetle-like creatures, and join their brothers on the sand to charge straight at Astal, spears aloft, reciting another war poem.

" _Rogue in red, make him dead!  
Wave after wave, round after round.  
Our spears will make it's mark at the head.  
A painful ending shall be found!_"

Astal fought off and slammed his way through the advancing horde, and soon discovered the giant insect he just avoided was trailing right behind him! He made his way as best as he could past the forward line of the Goblins, more often than not, sending a few of them tumbling into the monster's mouth, devouring them without mercy. He jumps over their heads, still holding on to his little friend, and is stopped by some rocks by leaping creatures he saw at the Glacial Rift.

It would've been the end for Astal and the bird, were it not for a massive gemstone headed in their direction. Astal and the bird hid by the ruined stone, and in a mighty flash of light, the leapers and the giant bug were destroyed. The pair looked out into the distance, and saw a familiar figure that summoned the massive and powerful gemstone; Geist. He mockingly laughed at Astal, and created a fireball, and froze it, and channeled a form of energy into the forming stone in his hand, a magic so strong, it blotted out the sun momentarily, and swung the energetic crystal boulder at Astal again, with him and the bird seeking shelter among the rocks. Any of Jerado's monsters out in the open that didn't or tried to take cover were disintegrated, and that was no problem to Geist, so long as he could hamper Astal on the way to his final confrontation.

Getting a few scrapes, Astal decides enough is enough, and looks at Geist. "Come here and face me, coward!" Geist simply giggles mockingly, and teleports away, with an imposing tower leaning in the distance from the mountains. Remembering a bit of magic he remembered from The Old Age of Wonders, he channels and focuses his chi into a shimmering red orb of pure energy, allowing him to soar into the heavens to catch up with Geist, the bird struggling to keep pace.

As Astal's power of temporary flight wears off, he reaches a small crystalline platform, he spots out a larger platform, where he sees Fungus. He leaps over and confronts the grotesque hunchback. "How did you get here so fast?" He asked. " _Teleportation. What else? Now, for the glory of Quartilia, Jerado, and my master, I shall smite thee with GREAT vengeance! Ha ha ha ha ha!_ " Fungus clenches his hands around the skull necklace and crushes it, unleashes a yellow light from it, which consumes him, and after growing in size and tattering his robes, morphs him into a monstrous blue-skinned titan with pink nails, blonde hair, and a horse head. He was about to strike at Astal, when a light shines down, and a black sword plunges into Fungus' back, poking out through his chest, smearing Astal in the horse monster's blood.

The creature that once called itself Fungus whimpers, and fallse on its face, dead, from a sword thrown out of seemingly nowhere. Just then, the assailant reveals himself to be Geist, who had just teleported in. "Poor, simple Fungus. You just wanted to play with him, didn't you? Hehehe..." He soon approaches the brief monster, lays his foot on Fungus' back, and places both hands around the sword that killed him, and after pulling out the dark blade from Fungus' back, Geist destroys his body and harvests his life essence, then turns to face Astal and the bird, sword pointed at him. He spoke;

"Hello, Astal. Good to see you. I'm willing to bet you're here to kill me. I'd love to see you try." Astal remembers what happened last night, and clenches his fist in anger. "I'm tempted to, after what you and Jerado did to Leda..." Geist cackles once more; "Heh, you'll be sure not to see her again. You've done me a big favor." Feeling that Geist intends to lie to him once more, Astal angrily glares at his unholy antithesis. "You're not fooling me, Geist. Not this time!" He charges at Geist, swinging punch after punch at him, causing Geist to lose his sword, and grabbing it, Astal lunges at the chest of his foe, the blade suddenly shatters, seemingly unable to harm its wielder by some form of magic.

"Why would I lie now? I'm being honest this time." He teleports away, fading in and out of visibility, with a mocking smirk on his face. "Every monster you've fought and killed have been used as a sacrifice to recreate Jerado's body!" Astal tries to face his constantly disappearing adversary. "I don't believe you." "Oh yeah? Well explain this!" Geist then opens a hole in the Underworld, where Jerado's eyes and grin are the only things visible in the blackness, and he lunges out with his massive hand, with sharp nails. Geist then closes the portal and laughs. "You've flubbed it again, Astal. Quartilia's true master is coming home! You thought you were defeating him, but you were actually helping Jerado _gain_ power. The master's now complete thanks to you, and I think it's time to get rid of you. Goodbye, Astal!"

Teleporting in the middle of the air, he summons yet another crystalline boulder, and hurls it towards Astal, but he and the bird dodge in the nick of time, smashing against the side of the platform harmlessly, but the shrapnel from the impact scrapes Astal in the shoulder, using his arm to shield his eyes from the bright explosion. Just then, Geist snaps his finger, summoning four round rocks above Astal's head, pulsing with a new form of energy, and then shoot a beam downwards where Astal stands, and the bird flutters. The beams of energy point towards them, but they evade quickly, but not before the powerful lasers strike Astal in the wrists, causing them to bleed.

Suddenly, Geist teleports in front of Astal from half the platform away, and brings forth the round stones used to blast energy at Astal, and intends to shoot them into his general direction. Thinking quickly, the redheaded warrior breathed in, and blew out a mighty gust of wind in another of his signature breath attacks, sending the stones back unto Geist, injuring him, spinning him backwards, dizzying him. Teleporting away, he summons another boulder to crush Astal, but he and the bird avoid it again. Snapping his fingers, he again summons four round stones to blast away at Astal, but as he teleports in front of him to throw them at Astal, the bird charges through three of the rocks, breaking them, and Astal throws Geist to the platform with a thunderous suplex, and tosses the remaining stone at his scalp, and Geist teleports away.

"Stubborn ghoul... Why won't you die?" Visibly irritated as his forehead bleeds, Geist snaps his fingers, and summons three stones together, which form a triangle-shaped rainbow laser, while it was slightly pretty to look at, Astal knew better than to touch it. Soon, Geist teleported to the other side of the platform to throw the stones at Astal again, he tucks in, inflates, and blows out yet another gust of wind that send the stones into Geist's abdomen, shin, and back. Covered in bruises and cuts, he angrily teleports away, and sends the platform carrying Astal and his aviary ally upwards into the heavens, clouds obscuring their vision. "What's going on? Why can't I win?... I can't lose to him, I can't!" Screamed Geist as he reappeared.

The platform soon reached the top of the clouds, where Astal looked out into the distance to see a floating island with a magnificent palace with a wall of diamonds around it, where he presumed the goddess and maker Antowas made her residence. The island appeared to be in a sorry and decaying state, with lightning bolts striking the spire. And not far ahead, was an agitated, furious, envious and bleeding Geist. Teleporting next to the platform keeping Astal and his aviary companion afloat in this void of clouds, it shook as Geist put his feet together, encased them in the shap of a shard of Taffelite, and plunged after the mighty Astal, missing him by a mile, cracking the crystal shell. Frustrated, he teleports away again. _Cowardly as ever._ Astal thought. _He's relying too much on his magic and trickery to fight me man to man!_

Summoning yet more orbs of dark magic with the snap of his finger, Geist brings five rocks to corner Astal and the bird, intending to crush them both beneath stone rain, but Astal ducks away as he sends another into the direction of Geist, cracking against his chest, and avoids the remainder. He repeats his tactics several times, but to no avail, injuring Geist even more, and allowing Astal to easily fight fire with fire by means of magic. "Your magic tricks aren't working, Geist!" Astal yells at his foe, as he teleports away yet again. "You're going to have to fight me barehanded!" "Grrrr!" In a rage, Geist flies away in a puff of dark blue smoke, Astal focuses his inner powers, and encasing himself in a familiar red aura, takes flight, and gives chase with the favored creation of Jerado, the purple bird not far behind.

Managing to keep up with his deadly arch-rival, Astal delivers an overhead slam on Geist's still bleeding scalp, and blasts him back down to Quartilia with another of his mighty breath attacks. Making a visible dent on the rocky surface of The Plains of Destiny, Geist, in his anger and jealousy, summons yet another massive crystalline rock but could scantly succeed, were it not for the fact that Astal had just recently created one of his own. Standing from a hillside, he held a massive ruby-encrusted boulder ten times his own weight, and larger than Geist's. "But... How...? How did you do that?!" Geist shouted, Astal simply replied; "I'm a fast learner. URRRRAYAAA!"

With a tremendous heave, Astal sent his big rock tumbling down the hill a thunderous slam, causing Geist to drop his bolder, and run desperately in the opposite direction, screaming all the way down, as the boulder crumbles in on him, sapping the last of his strength. Defeated, still bleeding, and covered in bruises, he falls to his hands and knees in defeat, glaring furiously at his enemy, who walks over to him. "This isn't fair... I don't get it. I'm stronger than he is! Why can't I beat him? Why can't I win? Why?! Why...?" The clouds darken, and the sun fades, and all fades to black as a familiar shimmer of eyes appears from the darkness. Jerado is finally free, Geist finally spoke the truth.

" _I'D BE VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU GEIST, IF YOUR PATHETIC EFFORTS AGAINST THAT LITTLE BOY WEREN'T SO HUMOROUS. HAHAHAHA...! EVEN IF YOU CANNOT BEAT HIM, WHAT FURTHER USE ARE YOU TO ME? HA HA HA HA! I'M NOT ABOVE DESTROYING THOSE WHO DARE TO FAIL ME._ " As Jerado spoke, he used his dark magic to seal the wounded Geist into the jewel that created him; a sapphire. He then sends it crashing to the ground, with Geist screaming all the way, nothing remained of his body, save for his necklace. Jerado's reputation for brutality is well-earned, Astal glares on in shock as Jerado mystically manifests into the mortal plane with his old, but still powerful body, his bird friend is frozen in place by fear of the dark god's return, he is hideous as he was before. Blue skin, brown hair, fat, red eyes with yellow irises, two horns, a pointing nose, pink lips and frightening sets of teeth.

" _HAHAHAHAHAHA! AT LAST I AM REBORN! FROM THE SHADOWS, I EMERGE ONCE MORE, TO RAVAGE QUARTILIA AS I HAVE IN DAYS LONG PAST. YOU CANNOT HOPE TO DEFEAT ME, ASTAL. IT'S TOO LATE. I HAVE BECOME FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE!_ " Extending hand, Jerado takes the bird and encases it in a green orb barrier of powerful magic, unable to fly away from her captor, Astal looks in horror. "Let her go, you creep!" Jerado scoffs and stares dumbfounded. " _WHAT IS THIS? COMPASSION?! HOW DROOL. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE SMALL AND FRAIL LIKE YOUR LITTLE FRIEND, ASTAL? UNABLE TO ACT IN THE FACE OF MY POWER? FRUSTRATING, ISN'T IT? YOUR NEWFOUND WEAKNESS BORES ME, ASTAL. NOW DIE!_ " The horned fiend raised his right foot to crush Astal, there is a slight sign of panic and despair from the young warrior as Jerado crushes his sole opposition underfoot.

The lord of demons cackles loudly into the night as the bird that had accompanied Astal from his return to Quartilia to his final encounter with Geist, had just been killed right in front of her. As tears flowed down the avian's beak, Jerado glares at his quarry menacingly. " _NOW, NOTHING WILL STAND IN MY WAY AGAIN! THIS WORLD IS MINE! NOW, HOW TO CELEBRATE MY VICTORY?... DESTROY EVERYTHING, AND BEGIN AGAIN! YES..._ " Just then, a turquoise glow emerged from Jerado's foot, forcing it up. Remarkable as it seems, Astal survived! A powerful energy from Leda's necklace appeared to shield and heal him, his present injuries, cuts and scrapes, disappearing. " _W-WHAT?!_ " The dark god stands dumbfounded, Astal glares up towards Jerado, striking a determined smile. "I'm not gone yet, Jerado. You're finished! Urrryaa!"

Summoning his finest suplex yet, Astal throws Jerado out into the distance of The Plains of Destiny, the dark deity flung into the with the force of a geyser, freeing the little bird from his magic. As Jerado fell to the ocean, making a hole in the dry, cracked earth in the shape of his own body, the little bird flutters back to Astal, and resting on his arm, nuzzles him again. "Yeah, I thought I nearly lost you too." He chuckled. "Well, that was easy! Now to finish the-" Just then, a rumbling was heard, the ground shook, surviving animals and fiends fled the battlefield in fear of what was to come next. " _UHH...HUH HA HA HA HA HA..._ " "-Job?..."

He shudders as he makes his way to the now-drying ocean floor where Jerado crashed. The landscape changed to a sickening purple as a manner of surreal objects and all the planets that orbited Quartilia as well as the sun were made visible in the night sky. The patterns on the floor, and the plants that surrounded it suggested that this was the ocean floor where Astal first defeated Jerado's demon army, nearly drowning himself in the process, and prompting Antowas to banish him from Quartilia and chain him to the moon. Jerado emerged from the cracked earth, placing fingers around the edge, and striking a ghastly, all-too-familiar grin. He soon levitated up from the hole in the dry ocean floor, laughing.

" _YOU SEE, ASTAL?! YOUR LITTLE BLUNDER THAT BANISHED YOU ALLOWED ME ACCESS TO THE PLANET'S CORE! UNDER MY CONTROL, I CAN USE IT'S ESSENCE TO SUMMON MY SLAIN FIENDS INTO A SINGULAR, STRONGER FIEND, TO FEAST UPON YOU! BE PROUD, LITTLE BOY! THIS PLANET IS TRULY MINE! I SHOULD THANK YOU, BUT IT WOULD BE MORE FUN TO KILL YOU! HA HA HA HA HA!_ " Teleporting to the other side, Jerado summoned a triangle-shaped diamond, which upon landing, would grow into a grotesque tree of his imagining, through which after bringing forth more diamonds, could create a fearsome dragon to consume Astal, the tree intending to block his escape from the beast.

What he didn't count on was that even without the power from Leda's necklace, Astal could still lift and throw objects ten times his own weight. Astal does just that, and injures the dark deity, causing Jerado to drop the large diamonds he had just summoned. Angrily, he summons another series of diamonds, and manages to complete his undead diamond dragon incantation, sending the creature screaming towards Astal. He leaps over it in the nick of time, only getting a few scratches. Jerado throws another diamond to crush Astal, and summons more diamonds, with the same results: Astal lifting the tree high above his head, and crashing it into Jerado's face, severing his concentration.

In his rage, he teleports from the crack in the ocean floor, and slams his fist towards Astal, which barely succeeds. He summons another tree buried in a diamond, with the same results blowing up in Jerado's face, preventing his incantation from fruition. Angry, he teleports to the cracks again, and throws several punches at Astal and his aviary companion, only one of which succeeds, smacking Astal in the gut. With an opportunity, he finishes an incantation, and summoning another dragon made out of diamond, he flies the creature towards Astal, but fortunately for the redheaded warrior, the segmented beast merely grazes him. Jerado teleports to land another punch to Astal, but missed again, and angrily summons another undead dragon to smite the young man, but he leaps away again.

Throwing another tree gem at Astal, he blocks his path once again, leaving him and his bird friend with cramped space, Jerado chants once more to use the life energy of his monsters to create another diamond dragon, but Astal lobs this next tree into his ribcage, with the dragon scraping his shoulder in his mild confusion. Clearly seeing that trees would be used against him, he brings forth another diamond, and Astal runs to grab it, but it turns out to be a massive rock stitched together by various gemstones, where he ducks away in time, and the rock shatters and fragments harmlessly.

Jerado lobs another rock concealed in a diamond, but Astal jumps away from the crash again, then Jerado throws another diamond, appearing into another tree, intended to block Astal's escape path from the undead diamond dragon, but he lifts it over his head once again, and lobs it at the demon god with the strength of a starved gorilla. However, the master of darkness manages to successfully summon the dragon and send it charging to Astal's general direction, but he ducks under the segmented beast. Jerado throws another diamond at him, clearly on his last legs, and the diamond lands on Astal's side of the oceanic crevice, and it transforms into another tree. "Reduced to throwing pebbles, Jerado?" He mocks. "And I thought you were powerful enough on your own to take over without your demon army." " _SILENCE, CHILD!_ "

Astal heaves the tree over his head again, visibly exhausted from the battle, and throws it unto Jerado again, shaking him up a little, and canceling his undead dragon incantation, even as the crystal head of the monster takes shape. He teleports back and forth again, throwing more gemstones concealing rocks intended for flattening Astal and his friend, but he ducks away time and time again, prompting Jerado to teleport into the middle of the seafloor crevice to punch Astal, a few of which succeed, were it not that the bird had brought Astal a Kifryn Apple, a glistening green fruit of great power that consumers can stand healed of what ails. "My turn, blue butt!" As Jerado summons another tree to cut off his escape, Astal lifts it over his head, and throws it back to Jerado, the unholy foliage again exploding in his face, flooring the remainder of the dark god's alleged strength. " _NO... NO! I AM STRENGTH, I AM ALL POWERFUL, I AM JERADO! I..._ "

Clearly defeated, Jerado's skin glowed a slight baby blue hue shined all over his form as he teleported back to the hole in the seafloor, scowling furiously at the young Quartilian. "And now, dark master of masters, your power here is no more. With the blessings of Antowas, righteousness and the innate good nature of mankind, I smack thee back to the Pit of Hate from which you hail... Urrryaa!" Leaping upwards and conking Jerado in the cranium with his strongest overhead slam, the strongest that cracked the ocean floor in the first place, Jerado moaned, groaned, and fell into the dark, damp crevice colliding with the planet's exposed core as he died. "And now, spirits of evil that have ransacked, pillaged and ruined this world in Jerado's service, all fiends depart!" Astal chanted as he held aloft Leda's necklace, which started glowing into the hole, a mighty light of righteousness shimmering into the core, expelling all the dark spirits lurking there, and beyond.

Astal looked on in amazement as the crevice flowed and expunged the fiends that have ransacked Quartilia, each spirit in the form of a repellent, ghastly being with empty eyes and a demonic set of teeth. The demons were expelled from the core, with Geist's dark spirit leaving first, and the last evil spirit was a large one, and glowing in various colors. indicating that it was Jerado's spirit sent away as well. Content with his work, Astal sealed the ocean floor with the magic in Leda's jewel, righting his wrong and restoring the elemental balance of Quartilia to it's former wealth and glory.

With daylight returning, nature blooming, and plants restored to life, Astal smiled, and a tear in his eye, he said; "At last, my quest has come to an end. I did it, Leda. I did it for you! I've avenged you! I beat Jerado and Geist, I fixed the hole I made in the seafloor, and restored the balance of the elements! Fire, water, earth, wind, ice and stone- W-Water?!" Realizing the implications of his restoration effort, the ocean would be filled once again. Desperately, he grabs the bird and climbs the wall of stones, dirt and sea flora to reach dry land. "Gotta get up there... Gotta get up! Still can't swim... I still can't swim!" He climbs upward as the ocean surface begins filling up with water, which quickly fills and rises up to Astal's ankles, prompting him to climb faster, but he is quickly up to his head in water, having forgotten to hold his breath.

He would promptly be thrown unto the shore by a wave, still clutching his aviary companion. Breathing fresh air again, and content to be on dry land again, he sees The Plains of Destiny terraformed into a vast, beautiful jungle. Animals returned soon after, and soon all was as it once was. Astal knows he must free the bird to live among its kind in the vast expanse of nature. A tear in his eye, he turns to the purple bird that accompanied him from the very beginning of his quest. "Well, I guess this is the part where I let you go, little girl. You've been a great pal, and you've never let me down." He nuzzles the bird with his cheek, and holds his hands up. "Fly free, my friend. Fly free..." The bird stays, however, and pecks at Leda's jewel necklace. "H-Hey. What gives?" The keepsake then shines a light into the bird, which then has a green orb of magic glow around her, and it soon ascends into the sky, thighs tucked, tarsus claws closed, wings extended, and turquoise tail feathers reaching up to her head. With the jewel's power, the pretty bird of purple fur began an even more beautiful transformation. Astal looked up at the small creature in amazement to find the bird was little more than...

...Leda! Astal's best friend in the whole wide world, purveyor of creation, life and beauty, and the reason for Astal's existence. She was still as beautiful as the day she and he were born, alone in a humble forest, with only the stars, and tablets sent down by Antowas to guide them through their daily lives. She opened her eyes to look upon her friend. "Astal..." She floated down into Astal's hands like a rose petal, both feet landing on the ground. "Leda..." He spoke. "You have no idea how long I've waited to see you. To think you were with me this whole time... You... You fight good." "Hehe, thanks. Is it over?" "Yes, Leda. I think it is..." Just then, the keepsake necklace Leda gave Astal on the day of his banishment began glowing, broke away from it's laces, and hovered into the heavens, where Antowas then appeared.

"The maker!" Cried Astal. He and Leda then bowed to greet the goddess. "Great and fair Antowas... I have redeemed my sin at last. In the destruction I wrought, I have corrected by sealing the cracks in the ocean. Will you ever forgive me?" " _Have no fear, my son. All has been forgiven._ " She replied, eyes still closed. " _Astal, Leda, listen to me. Jerado's shadow is now gone from this world, and Leda is free of Jerado's dark magic._ " "This was only made possibly by the power of your blessing that you bestowed on me through Leda's necklace." " _Astal, it wasn't my power that let you defeat Jerado. You discovered compassion. Despite my power of creation, even I cannot give you this. You have learnt compassion from those you have protected. Compassion brings strength, Astal. Remember this. Now, my work here is done, I leave this world to you two, and I leave to you the power of creation. Farewell, Astal and Leda. Bring happiness and balance to Quartilia. This is my final command..._ " Then, in a sparkle of brilliant lights, Antowas left this world as quickly as she built it, leaving behind her a large temple next to the place where Astal and Leda were born, a final memento of her beauty and balance.

Astal and Leda gave their heartfelt goodbyes to their maker, and left for home, with Leda leaving behind exquisite flowers in her path, growing plants, trees, crops, and creating wondrous animals to populate Quartilia. As they returned to the plum tree where they spent their days in The Old Age of Wonders, they saw many changes. Humanity flourished and blossomed, nature was in flawless harmony, and game was plenty. Exploring the temple Antowas left behind, they saw many tapestries recording Astal's journey from start to finish, and the history of the planet that has occurred around them.

After exploring the history of Quartilia, they played in the flowers, rolled around in the hills and did the things they did as they have in days long past; growing plants, feeding the animals, bathing, and making sure to keep their promise to Antowas to create life and bring happiness. They make good on their final command, bringing civilization soaring ever higher, with Astal and Leda growing more in love with each passing day. As the sun set next to the tree, Astal and Leda came to rest where they usually did in days long past. With Leda, on the side of the tree, and Astal, resting on the tree branch. "Good night, Leda. I love you." He whispered, she blushed. "I know. Good night, Astal..." They then came to a blissful sleep beneath the stars, loving one another under the glow of the moon, awaiting another day to hold one another in their arms, well aware with Jerado and his fiends gone, the night never again steal them away...

 _We lay like lovers in a warm embrace...  
Your kisses thrill me like no one before...  
Baby, I'm all yours, living just for you..._

 _I can see the moonlight shining through the mist...  
The moonbeams gleaming over you and me...  
I see the light of love, shining in your eyes..._

 _I'm holding you in my arms...  
Loving you beneath the stars...  
I don't want the night to steal you away..._

 _Hold me close, I want your soul.  
Don't you know that baby?  
Your love has touched my very soul.  
Can you feel it baby? Whoaa.  
Never let me go.  
Darling, cuz we're so in love  
and we can dream on.  
Sweet Dreams..._


End file.
